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$Unique_ID{COW01341}
$Pretitle{367}
$Title{Finland
Security Policy and Defence}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Riitta da Costa}
$Affiliation{Otava Publishing Co.}
$Subject{defence
forces
military
finland
policy
finnish
country
country's
national
preparedness}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country: Finland
Book: Facts About Finland
Author: Riitta da Costa
Affiliation: Otava Publishing Co.
Date: 1990
Security Policy and Defence
The objective of Finnish security policy is to maintain the independence
of the country and to safeguard the lives of its citizens. Through her own
activities Finland seeks to prevent situations from arising which could pose a
threat to her security.
The foundation of Finland's security policy is her foreign policy. This
is backed by national defence on a scale commensurate with the country's
resources; its most conspicuous form is military defence. The most important
civil sectors are economic defence, civil defence, and defence information.
Military defence is based on the 1974 statue concerning the Defence
Forces. According to the tasks described therein, the Defence Forces are
responsible inter alia for:
- The surveillance of the nation's land and sea territories and its air
space, and the safeguarding of the country's territorial inviolability.
- The armed defence of the country.
- Maintaining and developing the state of preparedness of the country's
defence, and providing the necessary military training for this purpose.
- Organizing peace-keeping forces to be placed at the disposal of the
United Nations.
Finland's location aside from strategically more important areas affects
the scale of her military defence. Finnish territory is not in itself an
objective or cause for war. Further, there are no nuclear weapons and no armed
forces or military advisers of a foreign power in the country. A separate war
or the use of nuclear weapons against Finland are considered unlikely. Finland
is prepared to defend her entire territory and to prevent its use for reaching
strategic objectives located outside the country. The aim is of course that
the existence and preparedness of defence forces in themselves would deter the
intentions of a possible aggressor. Because of Nordic military policy and
Finland's own circumstances, the main emphasis of defence measures is on the
key area of South Finland, Lapland and Finnish air space.
The two areas of security policy, foreign policy and national defence,
are under the leadership of the President of Finland, who is the supreme
commander of the Defence Forces. The Defence Council is a consultative body
for the President and the highest organ for planning and preparing national
defence. The chairman of the Council is the Prime Minister, and its members
are five ministers in fields important to the country's defence, the
Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, the Chief of the General
Headquarters and the Permanent Under-secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
The Defence Council has no executive power of its own, but its members do have
such power in their own fields.
The Ministry of Defence is the highest administrative defence authority.
It deals with the general legislative, administrative and monetary matters
related to national defence. It is the link between the Government and the
Defence Forces.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces directs military defence
with the aid of the General Headquarters. He is directly subordinate to the
President in matters of military command, which mainly cover personnel,
training and operative fields.
The Frontier Guard, which is organized on a military basis, is under the
Ministry of the Interior in peacetime, but operates in close co-operation
with the Defence Forces. If defence preparedness so demands, it can be wholly
or partially joined to the Defence Forces.
According to law, every Finnish male citizen is liable for national
service from the age of 17 to 60. Compulsory conscription service in the
standing force is usually performed between the age of 20 and 21. The
conscript period for tasks in the ranks is 240 days; for reserve officers,
non-commissioned officers and those trained for certain technical tasks it is
330 days. Every year about 35 000 men are trained, i.e. over 90% of the age
group in question. They are drafted in three contingents.
After their service in the standing force the men belong to various
classes of the reserve up to the age of 60. About 45 000 reservists are
trained annually at refresher courses lasting 8 to 12 days. These courses
concentrate on training complete units for war. The Finnish Defence Forces
have at their disposal a trained reserve of around 700 000 men whom they are
also capable of equipping.
The military defence is based on a territorial defence system designed
to take advantage of the circumstances peculiar to Finland. This system, in
which the main emphasis is on land forces, covers the entire country. It is
characterized by its readiness flexibly to adjust to the demands of the
situation. Seven military areas further divided into 23 military districts
form a command system in a constant state of preparedness. In peacetime, the
garrisons serve not only as training bases but also as units in a constant
state of preparedness. They can be strengthened according to need by calling
up reservists. The military districts are prepared if necessary to implement
more extensive mobilization. During peacetime the Navy and Air Force are
chiefly occupied with surveillance and ensuring of territorial integrity.
During times of crisis they also give regional combat support.
The equipment of the Finnish Defence Forces is to a large extent - one
third in volume - of domestic manufacture. This ensures that the equipment is
best suited to the country's conditions. The Western countries and the Soviet
Union supply about one third each.
The proportion of defence expenditure in the total government budget is
around 5.5%; the proportion of the GNP is about 1.5%. By independent solutions
and backed by the large majority of her people, Finland has built up a defence
force that amply supports her policy of neutrality and is commensurate with
the Nordic strategic situation.